Overtime Pay Calculator
Check your paycheck against the law. Enter your rate or salary, your hours, and your state rules to see your regular pay, overtime premium, and gross for the week. Everything runs in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Overtime pay under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act is 1.5 times your regular rate for every hour over 40 in a workweek. Your regular rate is not just your hourly wage: it is all of your pay for the week, including nondiscretionary bonuses and shift differentials, divided by your total hours. California adds daily triggers: 1.5x after 8 hours in a day, double time after 12, and premiums on the seventh consecutive day of work.
Calculate your overtime pay
Rules current as of October 2026. Source: U.S. Department of Labor (dol.gov) and the California Department of Industrial Relations (dir.ca.gov).
How the math worked
This is an estimate for planning only, not legal advice. Overtime rules vary by state, and exemptions depend on your actual job duties and pay. If your check does not match, compare it against your pay stub and talk to your employer or your state labor agency.
How overtime pay is calculated under the FLSA
The federal rule is short: covered, nonexempt employees must receive overtime pay at a rate of at least one and one-half times their regular rate for every hour worked over 40 in a workweek. That is the whole formula. Everything else is figuring out the two inputs: what counts as your regular rate, and what counts as hours worked.
Your regular rate is almost never just the number on your offer letter. The Department of Labor defines it as all remuneration for employment, divided by the total hours you actually worked that week. That means nondiscretionary bonuses, shift differentials, and commissions go into the regular rate, while discretionary bonuses, gifts, expense reimbursements, and true premium pay for overtime stay out. If your employer paid you a $200 production bonus in a 50-hour week, your regular rate is higher than your base hourly wage, and your overtime premium should be computed on that higher number.
Hours worked means all the time you were required to be on duty. The workweek is a fixed, regularly recurring period of 168 hours, seven consecutive 24-hour periods. It does not have to start on Monday. What matters is that your employer cannot average your hours across two weeks to erase overtime: 30 hours one week and 50 the next is 10 overtime hours, not a tidy 80-hour average.
Here is the worked example most people are looking for. You earn $20 per hour and work 50 hours in a week. Your regular pay for the first 40 hours is 40 x $20 = $800. Your overtime rate is 1.5 x $20 = $30 per hour, and you have 10 overtime hours, so your overtime pay is 10 x $30 = $300. Your gross for the week is $800 + $300 = $1,100. If you had worked at two rates, say $15 for 30 hours and $20 for 20 hours, your regular rate would be the weighted average: ($450 + $400) / 50 = $17 per hour, and your 10 overtime hours would pay $25.50 each.
Two common myths are worth clearing up. First, federal law does not require double time for any hour. Double time is a California rule, a union contract term, or an employer policy, not an FLSA requirement. Second, being paid a salary does not automatically make you exempt from overtime. Salaried nonexempt employees earn overtime too; their regular rate is derived from the weekly salary. Exemption depends on your duties and a salary threshold, not on the word "salary" on your pay stub.
Federal vs California overtime rules, side by side
California keeps the federal weekly floor and adds daily triggers plus double time. When state and federal rules both cover you, you get whichever standard pays more.
| Rule | Federal (FLSA) | California |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly threshold | 1.5x over 40 hours in the workweek | 1.5x over 40 hours in the workweek |
| Daily overtime | None | 1.5x for hours over 8 up to and including 12 in a workday |
| Double time | Not required by federal law | 2x for hours over 12 in a workday |
| Seventh consecutive day | Not required by federal law | 1.5x for the first 8 hours, 2x after 8 |
| Regular rate | All remuneration except statutory exclusions, divided by hours worked | Same approach: total compensation divided by hours worked |
| Multiple pay rates | Weighted average: total earnings divided by total hours | Weighted average: total earnings divided by total hours |
| Exempt salary threshold | $684/week ($35,568/year) | At least twice the state minimum wage for full-time work |
| Workweek | Fixed 168-hour period | Fixed 168-hour period |
Download the rule comparison as CSV
Rules current as of October 2026. Source: U.S. Department of Labor (dol.gov). Federal figures from DOL Fact Sheet #23; California figures from the Industrial Welfare Commission wage orders (dir.ca.gov).